My concern with having/depending on life insurance offered through our jobs is that if you become sick enough to lose your job, you also lose your life insurance.
We had a coworker that I lost touch with after I moved to the division where I work now. She developed cancer in her early 50s and battled it several years. She was intermittently out of work and eventually out of work for at least 6 months which is longer than the time limit that our hospital will hold a job for someone. They let her go/fired her eventually which I would assume would cancel her benefits package (health/life/dental ins.) She later died and I hoped, for the sake of her family, she had separate life insurance.
Looking back now it seems naïve, but until that point, it never dawned on me that it could happen in that order; I had always worried about needing life insurance for things like car or plane accidents. That's when I switched to my own policy separate from work. My job still provides a minimal amount (I think one year's salary) and we don't pay toward that at all.
The problem I have with short policies is that we expect to not need it after that but if you still do, it will definitely cost more. Who knows what other diagnoses we might have at that later time that will drive the cost up higher than usual?
Diabetes, sleep apnea, high cholesterol, etc.
When we first chose dh's 20 year plan, ds23 was a toddler and I figured in 20 yrs he'd be moved out, independent, and our house would be paid off or close to it, and we wouldn't need insurance after that. The thing is, even if you don't need it, it's nice to have. It's one less thing to worry about at a time of grief.
Peace of mind is priceless.